What We Saw from the Cheap Seats
- Regina Spektor
- Band Name: Regina Spektor
- Record Label: Sire
- Release Date: May 29, 2012
- Critic Score
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May 24, 2012100Her best effort yet.
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May 29, 201291There's not a weak track on the record, and there's something arresting in each song.
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Jun 19, 201290The songs on WWSFTC all hint at loss, limitation and aging, with Spektor's poetic sensibility and passionate singing giving the LP a wrenching sense of vulnerability. [No.88 p.59]
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Jul 24, 201283Many of these songs are merely bemused, and when she revises "I'm just a soul whose intentions are good," all she achieves is a different singalong from the one you expected.
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Jul 18, 201280Spektor delivers everything with such guileless brio that you never notice the join [between troubadour style to chrome-clean hip hop].
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May 29, 201280What We Saw from the Cheap Seats succeeds more often than it frustrates.
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May 29, 201280It might be coming from the cheap seats, but for the most part, this is classy stuff.
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May 29, 201280At her best, Spektor tempers her theatrics with a deep-seated empathy. Beneath the yelps, gasps, and exaggerated accents, she's a romantic, and What We Saw is her most deeply felt, resonant work to date.
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May 24, 201280She probably remains a bit of an acquired taste for some, but What We Saw From The Cheap Seats pulls off the impressive trick of stylistically bouncing about all over the place while retaining a very identifiable vision all of its own.
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May 29, 201275Beyond her playing, Spektor holds together the music on Cheap Seats with her singing, which even at its most intricately melodic (as in "Oh Marcello") retains an improvisatory feel.
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May 24, 201275Spektor still lets her theater-kid id run free, with affected accents ("Oh Marcello") and self-conscious heavy-breathing tricks ("Open").
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May 31, 201272Much like Begin to Hope and Far, this record generally continues to juggle the same genres Spektor has inhabited up to this point.
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Jul 2, 201270[Cheap Seats] will please the masses by doing what she does best. That is, have fun, play games, and make beautiful music.
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May 31, 201270What We Saw From The Cheap Seats could've been Spektor's magnum opus, but the flashes of brilliance here are enough to keep us hoping for her next release.
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May 29, 201270Even tighter and more flamboyant than 2009's Far, [What We Saw From the Cheap Seats] may be her best.
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May 24, 201270At times, Spektor can be too cutesy... More often though, her little idiosyncrasies are charming.
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May 30, 201263Though it rarely makes good on the promise of her earlier songs, Cheap Seats is polarizing, and by now most listeners will have already decided whether or not they can stomach Spektor's peculiar kind of verite, glass-half-full optimism.
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Jul 9, 201260There is much here to be thankful for, but there is nothing as immediately thrilling as some of her past pop gems. [Jun 2012, p.150]
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Jun 28, 201260It's the near-painful purity she conveys in the high notes that surprises most, especially on the mellower tunes.
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Jun 7, 201260At its most affecting What We Saw from the Cheap Seats is a sad and touching record, filled with love and the memory of .... Parts of [the album] feel either disposable or a revisiting of old ground.
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May 31, 201260Unfortunately, What We Saw is heavy on overlong ballads, and when she adds that trademark whimsy to the mix, it's nearly unbearable.
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May 29, 201260She's still a pop maverick worth cherishing, but you wish she'd tone down the quirkiness just a little.
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May 29, 201260What We Saw..., then, is the usual Spektorish mixed bag of literate genius and "look at me" showboating.
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May 25, 201260Here, the abrupt shifts between ballad placidity and animated angst underscore the theme of changing course.
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May 25, 201260Parts of ...Cheap Seats feel either disposable or a revisiting of old ground.
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May 24, 201260In fine voice and piano, Spektor skips down the yellow-brick road, offering new diversions at every turn. Fun – but the whimsy can be exhausting.
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May 30, 201250Most of the songs are so flat that the singer sounds constrained.
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Oct 12, 201240The occasional glimmer of pop genius seen in the albums past is mostly absent, with plodding piano ballads in place instead. [Jul 2012, p.112]